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Windows 7: First time thinking of building a new PC

Since I'm still new to all this, I'd like your opinions on what you think of this potential setup that I'm thinking of making - thankfully PCSpecialist.co.uk will be doing the actual building and testing of this, and not me

So you know, I go on the internet a lot, don't do much artistic-wise, but I do like my gaming - I enjoy games like Burnout: Paradise, Just Cause 2 [replacing Far Cry 2 as an exploration game], (would like to buy Crysis 2... when it's reduced in price), and Unreal Tournament 3 (among others which aren't that graphics intensive).

I'm hoping this will last me for some years to come! It's a real shame I can't transfer my old DDR2 RAM to this new PC

First things first the PSU is undersized in my opinion. I would look towards a minimum 600-800 watts and go modular. Then the next thing that catches my eye is a primary hard drive with only 8gb of cache is going to be a dog of a drive (slow) upgrade to at least 32gb to 64gb of cache.

You have selected a 600W power supply, but based on our calculations you actually only need a 450W power supply. We have calculated your specification to require around 366W of power including a 20% allowance. Although it is not a mandatory requirement to select a lower wattage power supply, doing so will save you money and the last thing we'd like to do is over charge you!

At this point in time, I'd suggest going with a second generation CPU Core I5-2500k or I7-2600k. Both are quad core; the I7 supports hyperthreading. The 2500k is approx. 2/3 the price of the 2600k, so I suggest that.

You'd need a Socket 1155 motherboard to go with it. If you want to overclock, it'd have to be a P67 or Z68 board. (For overclocking, you'd best get a third-party CPU cooler as well.) If you go Socket 1155, be sure to get 1.5V DDR3 memory that is compatible with it.

If you stay with the Socket 1366 board, I suggest getting triple channel memory. The board will support dual channel, but performance will be better with 3 channel.

(The Socket 1155 board will only support dual channel, but its improved memory performance over the X58 board will narrow the gap.)

You don't mention a make of power supply. A good 450W PSU can be superior to a poor 600W PSU. A "modular" PSU has cables that plug into the PSU; you don't use the ones that you don't need.

The graphics card is a midrange unit. A 6850 would have significantly better performance. (It would cost more as well, but I tried to suggest an alternative that would be more nearly a high-end card but at a relatively low price.)

I'm not convinced that PCSpecialist.co.uk is offering you the best combination to fit your needs. The X58 board would have been a high-end choice, back in early 2009. The Socket 1155 systems basically outperform them for most purposes, even though 1155 is basically a midrange platform. (Socket 2011 will be the replacement for 1366, but it won't be available for a while.)

Why not build your own? (Tools required: one medium Philips screwdriver. An old credit card to spread the heatsink compound on the CPU. A few paper towels.) There's a first time for everything. Why not now?

Gaz1701,
bobkn is absolutely right, this is the time to do this build with top shelf components and save money and learn a ton. By doing this you won't fear to open the case and make changes later as you'll realize just how simple it all goes together. So many added benefits and you are at the right place to ask the questions and get great answers. We need to know how you use your computer, where your live in the world and what's your budget. You'll have a blast in the process and the hardest part is selecting the components because you'll have tons of quality options....but this too is a blast then the worst part is waiting for it all to arrive and wait for the day of the build.

back in the day building a pc was definitely ideal, cause you could easily get the most bang for your buck. Now adays there's a lot of pre-built pc's that you can't make any cheaper, newegg.com has a lot of great pc's, and I recommend getting parts from there too.

I agree with bobkn and linnemeyerhere. With what's available today and considering price/performance, there is nothing that can compete with Sandy Bridge for most users. Pick out the parts yourself and put it together yourself. Put the money you were going to pay them to build it on better quality parts. If you need help, we will help you with parts selection. You will be amazed at how easy it really is. Another advantage to building yourself is if something goes wrong with it, you know how to fix it and you know where everything is. It's so easy, well...

back in the day building a pc was definitely ideal, cause you could easily get the most bang for your buck. Now adays there's a lot of pre-built pc's that you can't make any cheaper, newegg.com has a lot of great pc's, and I recommend getting parts from there too.

Gaz1701 seems to be from the UK. Newegg serves only the US and Canada.

GRAPHICS CARD nVidia in my opinion is just that little bit better than ATI. For example, Call of Duty players using ATI cards have complained that smoke appears to be a grey wall while nVidia users have found no problems with the graphics. I also think that ATI is slightly overpriced but that's just my opinion.

POWER SUPPLY 450w PSU is not all that much. Sure, the minimum for a HD6670 is 400w but to be on the safe side, I'd be getting a PSU that's at least 550w.
ANTI-VIRUS Norton in my opinion is terrible. I use Trend Micro. I would go for something that's not made by Symantec.

Hope that helps. Oh, and by the way, you might want a 1TB HDD. I have found that 500GB disappears quite quickly.

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http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=CA-023-OC&groupid=701&catid=123&subcat=1098